Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Tonight I did something that is very uncharacteristic, stupid, and certainly way above my skill level. When rolling with one of the Blue belts, Jason, starting from stand up I grabbed his right arm, jumped up, put my right shin in his armpit, and kicked my left leg over his head; I tried a flying arm bar. And here is the strange thing; I had never practiced it and only seen it applied a few times in videos. A very reckless mistake on my part.

I do not know how or why it happened, it just did. And the thing that broke the "almost" lock is when gravity slammed me into the ground and I blanked out for a second. Not to mention that Jason came crashing down onto me and I took a nice unintentional elbow to the nose and mouth causing me to blank out for a moment or two. For the rest of my roll, I was in a dazed auto pilot.

For the past few weeks I have been stepping up my training for my first Brazilian Jiu Jitsu tournament this Sunday. This is my last class before my final physical and mental preparation. I am feeling a little bit of pressure, I admit. But it is more excitement to compete with the unknown than anything else. I know I have been training hard and all the tools for success have been given to me. My biggest concern is that my adrenaline will take over and I become clumsy or reckless with my technique; like I did tonight. Guess what I will be thinking about for the next few days... ;)

And, will I try a flying arm bar again? Of course because it is a slick submission! But there are a lot of other things I need to work on first. I am deeply ashamed for losing my head like that and doing something that could have caused a team mate or my self an injury. I am also thankful that Jason is freakishly tough. The only good thing is, I learn from my mistakes. And the bigger the mistake, the more of an impact the lesson will have on me.